Uncovering Britain's Slave-Backed Profits in Brazil Long After Abolition

For decades after the British Empire's abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, British companies found ways to continue profiting from slavery in Brazil. This troubling history, often overlooked, reveals the lengths to which businesses went to maintain their access to slave labor and the wealth it generated.

In 1845, just two years after Britain banned its citizens from owning or buying enslaved people overseas, a British mining company called St John d'El Rey managed to transfer 385 captives to its operations in Brazil. Though technically not a sale, this